Friday, January 29, 2010

Rockets game notes vs. Cougars

Tonight’s Preview: Tonight‘s game against the Cougars is the third meeting between these two teams in less than a week. The Rockets beat the Cougars 4-1 and 6-2 up in Prince George last Friday and Saturday night. Overall the Rockets are 5-1-0-0 in the first six meetings. The seasonal series concludes on the final night of the regular season when the Cougars pay a visit on March 13th. Overall the Rockets enter the weekend having won three straight games after two wins against the Cougars and Wednesday’s 4-2 victory over Seattle. Tonight’s game is the second of a three game home stand for the Rockets, who host Medicine Hat tomorrow night. The Rockets visit the T-Birds in Kent, Washington on Sunday. By the time the weekend is over the Rockets will have faced a team below them in the standings in four consecutive games.

Last Game Recap: Four power play goals in the third period led the Rockets to a 4-2 win over Seattle Wednesday night. Mitchell Callahan had two goals while Geordie Wudrick had a goal and three assists. Tyson Barrie had a goal and an assist while Brandon McMillan chipped in with a pair of assists. Adam Brown made 21 saves in the victory, as the Rockets snapped a five game home ice losing streak. Overall the Rockets were 4 for 7 on the power play while allowing one goal on four T-Bird chances.

Who’s Hot – Who’s Not: The Rockets have opened the scoring in six of the last seven games…Cody Chikie has four goals in his last six games.…Tyson Barrie has points in 32 of his last 38 games. Barrie has 10 points in his last six games….Barrie has 120 career assists, 1 more than former Rocket d-man Josh Gorges. Barrie is now the franchise assist leader among defencemen..…Mitchell Callahan has fourteen points in his last fifteen games (7+7=14).…Adam Brown has started four straight games.…Brett Bulmer has 6 points in his last six games…Brandon McMillan has goals in three of his last five games. McMillan has eight points in his last five games…Adam Brown is 3-0-0-2 in his last five starts.

Game Day Tidbits: The Rockets are 1 and 5 in situations that feature three games in three nights. The only win was a 4-3 overtime victory at home against Vancouver October 24th….The Rockets have lost 25 times this season. Last season the Rockets lost just 21 times….Tyson Barrie is second in league scoring by defencemen. Barrie is 3 points back of league leader Kevin Connauton of the Vancouver Giants.…The Rockets have been involved in twenty (20) one goal games this season. The Rockets are 9-7-2-2 in those twenty games…Dallas Jackson and Shane McColgan lead the team with 8 power play goals….Tyson Barrie has a team high 43 assists, 3 more than he had all of last season…McColgan is two points back of the Giants Kevin Connauton for the WHL scoring lead by rookies…Ryan Huska recorded his 100th regular season victory December 4th against Edmonton…Geordie Wudrick returned to the lineup last Saturday after missing 11th games with a shoulder injury….Defenceman Mitchell Chapman and forward Brett Bulmer are rated by NHL Central Scouting for this summers draft in Los Angeles. Chapman is rated 151st while Bulmer is ranked 164th among North American born skaters…The Rockets have 10 home games and 11 road games left for a total of 21. Of those 21 games, 7 are against American based teams including three vs. Seattle…Brandon McMillan is three assists shy of 100 in his career…The Rockets have ten players with 10 or more goals. Lucas Bloodoff can join that list. The 20 year-old has 9 goals. Last season the Rockets had 12 players with 10 or more goals.

January’s best performers: Shane McColgan leads the team with 15 points (4+11=15) in January. McColgan is closely followed by Tyson Barrie (2+10=12) and Dallas Jackson (4+6=10). Brandon McMillan 9 points (4+5=9) while Brett Bulmer has eight points (4+4=8) in January.

Who will be the three 20 year-old's on the Rockets roster this season?

Regan Bartel

About Me

Bartel is a radio broadcaster for the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League. Bartel is enjoying his 26th year in the radio broadcast industry, spending 13 years at CKSW in Swift Current before moving to AM 1150 in Kelowna in the summer of 2000. Having called the play-by-play for the Swift Current Broncos and Kelowna Rockets, Bartel has called games at five Memorial Cups (2003,04,05,09, 2015), the CHL Top Prospects Game (2012) and the Canada-Russia Subway Super Series (2009). To listen to audio, just type audio in the window at the top left of the screen.